


to my (immortal) family

by tomhardad



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, heavily implied yusufnicolo throughout, yusuf sketches every one he loves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27165665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomhardad/pseuds/tomhardad
Summary: five times yusuf gave sketches to his immortal family and one time he got one for himself.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	1. nicolo

1310

yusuf is unsure about the sketch - he thinks the background lacks depth and the faces he’s drawn might not resemble the people nicolo knew so well, missed so greatly.

speaking of nicolo… yusuf’s dark eyes find him studying one of yusuf’s maps, his brows wrinkled in concentration. yusuf’s heart rate picks up, his palms sweating.

 _what if i got them all wrong?_ this is nicolo’s _family_ \- the most important people in the world to him, as he had told yusuf one night, blue eyes full of emotion. yusuf looks back down at the sketch, adds a little more shade to the background and takes a deep, calming breath.

_it’s time._

“nicolo?” yusuf hates how his voice falters and he clears his throat when nicolo looks at him, still frowning. “i wanted to give you this.”

yusuf offers the sketch facedown and waits with bated breath, unable to look away. nicolo turns the paper around and… just _stares_ blankly at the sketch, blue eyes skimming the page from top to bottom.

yusuf could hear his own heart beating, his breath coming out shallowly through his nostrils. he briefly wondered if allah would grant him a real death this time, just to save him further embarrassment.

however… “you… yusuf, you _remembered_ ,” the look in nicolo’s blue eyes is so intense that yusuf _has_ to look away now, his cheeks burning.

 _of course i remembered, i remember everything you say._ nicolo had mentioned his parents and his sister for the first time about two weeks earlier, after they had made it safely to europe. yusuf asked him as many questions as he could without raising suspicion and nicolo’s memories, though hazy after centuries of separation, were rich enough to help yusuf on his task.

nicolo is still looking at him and, this time, yusuf stares right back. “yes, it took me a while to finish because you did not remember a lot about your sister but i hope you liked it,” he finishes weakly, still unable to get a read on nicolo’s face.

“’ _do i like it’, he asks_ ,” nicolo mutters in italian and yusuf barely has time to react when he stands up, crosses the distance between them and pulls him into his arms, face buried in yusuf’s neck, lips warm where they touch his skin. “it is the best gift i have ever gotten, yusuf. _thank you_.” his voice wavers and when he pulls back yusuf wants to keep him there, in the safety of his arms for a little while longer. “i will always carry them with me now.”

yusuf did not know it then but nicolo would keep that sketch _for years_ very close to his heart.


	2. andy

1380

“one of my sisters was very fond of sculpting,” yusuf looks up from his sketch and finds andy smiling as she watches quynh make some over complicated moves with nicolo’s longsword, her long black hair loosely tied on top of her head. yusuf chuckles when quynh presses the tip of his blade playfully against nicolo’s neck, before he could try and disarm her. quynh never played to lose. “she made me a gold brooch once but i lost it during one of our many travels.”

“do you remember its shape or size?” yusuf asks, pushing a longer, rebellious curl behind his ear, smudging the side of his face with charcoal in the process. he turns his attention back to the sketch, charcoal brushing the paper softly as he works on the final details.

andy frowns, looking down at her calloused palms. “i barely remember their faces, yusuf,” there's no anger in her voice, only sadness. there’s a lot of sadness in all of them, yusuf knows this, but andy’s layer runs deeper, almost like a second skin. “every day when i wake up i remember less and less. you live for thousands of years but no one really knows what you miss... _the people_ you miss.”

yusuf finishes his sketch and hands it to her, swallowing around the lump in his throat before he whispers, “look, boss, your mother and your sisters are _always_ with you, no matter what your memories might say. listen to your heart and you will always be with them.”

andy runs her fingers through her mother’s face on the sketch, closes her eyes and nods, a single tear running down her cheek. yusuf takes her right hand in his left and squeezes it tightly, kissing her knuckles. “you are not alone anymore, andy,” yusuf watches as nicolo plays with quynh’s bow and arrow, his laughter intoxicating and he can’t help but smile, heart overflowing with love. “ _we_ are not alone anymore.”


	3. quynh

1380

yusuf is sitting in the shade, another sketch almost finished in his lap. in it, a five-year-old girl stands with a bright smile on her face right next to her father, who cradles a baby boy in his arms. the man’s face is serious but his eyes carry a visible sadness - yusuf accentuates the droop of his lids, the slump of his shoulders, the lines around his lips.

sitting next to yusuf, quynh observes his work, a pleased smile on her lips. “how do you do this so well, yusuf? i gave you almost nothing to start with… this is _perfection_ ,” quynh is so genuinely impressed that yusuf feels his heart swell with pride - a praise from quynh is worth more than all the riches in the world to him.

“i just try to see what you are describing to me in my mind’s eye, then i add the details and the rest just flows, i guess,” to yusuf, sketching is the very air he breathes, one of his favorite ways to express himself and connect to other people and to this insane world he still barely understands but is completely in awe of.

“well, you have a real gift. this portrait feels like i am back home, thinking i am the luckiest big sister in the world,“ quynh kisses his cheek soundly and yusuf’s smile is bashful when she stands up and says, “now i _definitely_ need you to make a portrait of me with andromache and lykon too!”

yusuf chuckles, sharpening the charcoal with his dagger. “it will be my pleasure, quynh.”

(three days later, quynh found the requested sketch inside her leather quiver along with a note written in yusuf’s neatly cursive handwriting that said, _you are the best archer i have ever met._

quynhkept both sketches and the note with her until she was captured.)


	4. booker

1820

it is one thing to sketch people’s deceased parents and siblings, and another completely different to sketch people’s deceased _sons_.

yusuf still remembers how hard it was to get sebastien to talk about his family - though he’s been with the team for almost eight years, yusuf knows he still doesn’t trust them fully, especially when the subject is his past.

“why are you doing this?” sebastien had asked, his blue eyes unblinking as they sat in a cafe in vienna, waiting for their mark to arrive. “talking about them is not going to bring them back.”

yusuf had his sketchbook open in front of him, an unfinished sketch of andy’s profile on one page and of nicolo’s hands on the other. “i know that but i like to make sketches and offer to people i care about. if you don’t want it i won’t insist, i promise.” yusuf held his gaze, his tone of voice firm but friendly. the last thing he wanted was to upset sebastien.

he remained quiet for so long that yusuf was ready to never mention that conversation again until he finally sighed and asked, looking down at his hands, “what do you want to know?”

yusuf finishes a large portrait of sebastien with his wife and three sons on the banks of the seine two weeks later and gives it to him on the morning of their departure to salzburg after another successful job. sebastien sees him approaching with the wrapped up painting and his jaw clenches, blue eyes looking away from him. “is that it?” he sounds pained and yusuf only nods, handing the painting over to him. “let’s see,” sebastien sits on the edge of his bed, tears open the wrapping with shaky fingers and gasps, staring at the portrait.

yusuf sees the tears in his eyes and looks away, his own heart clenching painfully. he’s never had sons of his own but he knows what it’s like to lose people he loved, people he never even got to say goodbye to. “i know this portrait won’t ease your pain or bring them back but it’s good to remember the people we love fondly, sebastien,” yusuf searches sebastien’s face and he’s openly crying now, still looking at the painting. “you deserve that, too.”

sebastien nods, finally believing it.


	5. nile

2021

if yusuf is being completely honest with himself, he is very nervous to offer his sketch to nile.

he is not _exactly_ afraid that nile might not like his work - he has gifted her random sketches before and she’s always said kind things because she’s nile and kindness is her very constitution but… sketching one’s family _is_ different.

not only that, but nile knows about art - she’s a painter herself and her talent is blatant, her vision precise. if anyone can spot a flaw in his sketches is her.

so when yusuf hands her his sketch one morning after everyone’s had their breakfasts, he unconsciously holds his breath, hands buried in his jeans’ pockets. nile sees the manila envelope and grins, her palpable excitement making him feel less nervous. “speaking as a person who has seen how you add layers to your paintings, this is _definitely_ notvery groundbreaking,” he says when she pulls the sketch out, a gasp leaving her lips.

“oh my god, joe,” nile leans back against the kitchen counter, taking in the sketch. “ _not very groundbreaking_?! you drew my parents in charcoal! they look more like themselves here than they ever did in _any_ of the photos we took together!” she’s grinning from ear to ear when she hugs him tightly, and yusuf is so relieved he ends up smiling, too. “now i _have_ to pay you back somehow!”

“to know you liked it is enough of a payment to me, nile… though i wouldn’t say no if you gave me one of your lovely paintings,” yusuf winks at her and nile nods, offering her hand for him to shake. “deal!”

(little did yusuf know that another plan was brewing in her mind already.)


	6. yusuf

epilogue - 2021

nile finishes the painting and takes a step back, quietly analyzing it. she’s unsure about the orange she chose for the sunset and there’s at least one visible flaw she can point out with her eyes closed but… it’s done.

_let’s just hope yusuf likes it._

there’s a quick knock on her bedroom door and she already knows who it is. “come in!”

nicolo peers through the door and smiles, eyebrows raised in question. “is it ready?”

nile purses her lips, pointing at the painting. “it’s done but… i’m not really sure how i feel about it.”

nicolo takes one look at her and quickly enters the room, leaving the door ajar. he stands right next to her and his eyes fall on the painting, an unreadable look on his face. “what do you think?” she asks, already dreading the answer.

nicolo only touches her shoulder, a fond look in his blue eyes. “i think he’s going to love it, nile. let’s show it to him.” there’s so much honesty in his voice and expression that nile has no choice but to nod, feeling instantly reassured.

she takes the painting and follows nicolo to the living room, where everyone knows what’s about to happen - _except_ _yusuf._

speaking of the man, his back is to the corridor, immersed in a lively discussion with booker and quynh, gesticulating wildly. nicolo gives her one final look and sits next to andy on the couch, and when yusuf notices his arrival he turns around immediately, grinning when he sees nile.

“nile, come join us! booker is about to lose a lot of money betting on the wrong team again,” he finally notices the painting she’s carrying and the fact that suddenly everyone has stopped speaking and he swallows thickly. “what’s that?”

nile stares at him and squares her shoulders, forcing herself to be calm. “listen, you said to me after you drew that gorgeous portrait of my family that you wanted me to give you one of my paintings as payment. well, i have the painting right here but it’s not a landscape or a sunrise or a flower field - it’s _this_ ,” she turns the painting around and there’s a spark of immediate recognition in yusuf’s eyes, and everyone else is smiling and nile thinks she might have gotten this right after all. “thank you for being so kind and such a wonderful friend to me.” she hands him the painting and yusuf takes it like it’s priceless, like it’s the rarest gemstone he’s ever found in more than 900 years of life.

“this is…” yusuf looks away from the painting to stare at nile, eyes filled with tears. “this is _glorious_ ,” he says in arabic, fingers touching his parents’ and sister’s faces reverently, taking in every detail. “thank you so much!” he hugs her so tightly nile’s feet leave the ground for a second and she giggles as the team cheers and claps and the joy she feels in that particular moment is overwhelmingly sweet.

**Author's Note:**

> i first posted this on tumblr for my friend tyler but i guess this goes here now ✨


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